Adjustable school desk and seat.



M. L. GALL.

ADJUSTABLE SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT. APPLICATION FILED APR- 6, 1916.

Lwmww Patented Apr. 3,1917.

MARVIN L. GALL, or PHILIPPI, wns'r VIRGINIA.

ADJUSTABLE SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Application filed April 6, 1916. Serial No. 89,441.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MARVIN L. GALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philippi, in the county of Barbour and State of West Virginia, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Ad justable School Desks and Seats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to adjustable school desks and seats and has as its object to provide a simple and yet highly efficient means whereby both the seat standard and the desk standard may be adjusted to diiferent heights.

It is an aim of the invention to so construct the means for holding the standards at adjustment that thestandards Will be firmly supported against accidental downward movement and yet may be readily and quickly lifted to the desired height without the employment of tools of any sort whatsoever.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section of a school desk and seat, the standards of which are supported by the device embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a detail vertical sectional view taken on a plane from front to rear, illustrating the device employed for holding the seat standard at adjustment, the device being in released position in full lines and in active position in dotted lines.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the device 7 shown in Fig. 2, the rear side of the casing for the seat standard being broken away.

Fig. 4 is a sectional perspective view illustrating the device provided for holding the desk standard at adjustment.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of the device shown in Fig. 4 of the drawin s.

Tn the drawings the numeral 1 indicates a base provided at the lower ends of the lower standard sections which telescopically receive the upper standard sections in turn supporting the seat and desk, this base being designed to be secured to the floor as is customary. The lower. or fixed standard sections are embodied in a casing structure indicated in general by the numeral 2, and the forward portion of which is triangular in horizontal section and comprises forwardly converging sides 3 and a rear wall 4, which at a suitable point is rearwardly bulgedas at 5 to house the device provided for supporting the upper section of the seat standard at adjustment. The seat is indicated by the numeral 6. and has secured to its under side at the rear the upper end of the upper or telescoping section of the seat standard which section is indicated at 7 and is triangular in cross section and telescopically fitted within the said forward portion of the easing structure 2. The rear side of the standard section 7 is provided with a series of transversely extending rack teeth 8 designed to cooperate with the detent shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings. This detent comprisesa wedge shaped body 9 provided upon its forward face with a vertical series of transversely extending rack teeth 10 which are upwardly presented and are designed to coact with the rack teeth 8 for thepurpose of supporting the said standard section 7 in the manner stated. The body 9 is disposed within the housing 5 of the lower section of the standard and the rear wall of this housing or bulged portion has its lower part inclined downwardly and forwardly as indicated at 11, to form an inclined plane against which the detent 9 may travel in its movement from active to inactive position and vice versa, the body of the detent being provided in its rear face with two or morevertical series of antifriction bearings 12 either in the form of rollers or bearing balls disposed in suitably formed sockets and contacting the forwardly presented side of the inclined part 11 of the housing. It will now be apparent that when the body 9 is in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the standard section 7 will be securely held against accidental downward movement and it will further be understood that when the detent is in the position shown in full lines in the said figure, the rack teeth thereof will clear the rack teeth of the standard section 7 and the section may be raised or lowered as may be desired. The invention contemplates the provision of means for automatically raising the detent 9 when the said standard section 7 is slightly elevated and the detent is released, so that both hands may be employed in adjusting the seat after the elevating device has been rendered active. In that form of the invention shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the numeral 13 indicates a lever which is fitted through a slot 1a in one side of the lower standard section for the seatand this lever is pivoted as at 15 to the rear wallcof the housing 5 at a suitable distance above the detent 9. A spring 16 is connected at its upper end to the inner end of the lever 13 and at its lower end is connected as at 17 to the upper end of the,de-"

tent 9. One wall of the slot 1 1 is provided with an ofiset forming a shoulder 18 beneath which the handle end of the lever 13 may be engaged in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 3. By reference particularly to Fig. 3 it will j be observed that when the handle end of the 1 lever 13 is swung downwardly and the lever is moved slightly laterally upon its pivot 15 so as-to engage the lever beneath the shoulder'18, the lever will beheld in this position and the spring 16 will be placed under tension, thespring then tending to lift the detent to the position shown in fulllines in Fig. 2 of the drawings, upon release of the said detent. This release of the detent is, of course, accomplished by moving the section 7 of the standard upwardly ashort dis- .tance and after the detent has been elevated through the medium of the spring 16, the lever 13 may be moved out of engagement with the shoulder 18, allowing the detent to return to normal position or, in other words, 1 to the position shown in dotted lines inthe 735 said Fig.2, the standard section 17 having been in the meantime adjusted to position the seat 6 at the desired elevation. It will be funderstood,rof course, that if it is merely desired to move the standard section 7 to a higher elevation, this may be accomplished by simply pulling up upon the seat 6 as in 1 such instance the rack teeth S upon the said j 1 standard section will ride over the teeth 10 of the detent 9. V

The supporting easinghas its rear portion provided with an upward extension 19 which *istriangular in horizontal section, as shown in Fig. 4; ofthe, drawings andtelescopically receives the upper section of the desk standard, which section is, indicated by the numeral 20, the desk supported thereby being indicated by the numeral 21.. The side walls of'the extension 19 are indicated by the numeral '22v and the rear wall bythe numeral 23'and the said rear Wallis provided with a housing- 24: which receives a detent 25 corresponding :in constructiontoz'the detent 9 previously described. This detent is 'pro- "outer face of one side w'all'22 of the extensionf19. At i'ts lower end the "rod30 is pro- "videdfwith a stud 31which'work's slidably 'ina 'sl'ot32 formedin the'sa'id side wall of the extensionfand providedat its upper end with position; J

a lateral branch 33 in which thcstud31 may seat when the rod 30 is slid upwardly through the bracket 31. In order that the rod may be conveniently moved the same is provided near its lower end with a finger knob 3%. It will now be understood that when it is desired to adjust the standard section 20 by moving the same upwardly so as to elevatethe desk 21, the desk and standard may be bodily lifted. Should it be desired to lower the desk, the rod 30 is slid upwardly until its stud 31 engages in the branch 38 of the slot 32 and it will be 7 held in this position until disengaged from the said branch. \Vhen the rod is so moved upwardly the spring 28 will be placed under tension and, therefore, when the desk is moved a short distance in an upward direction the detent 25 will be released and will move to inactive position to permit of downward sliding 'movement of the standard section 20 within the section 19 in the same manner as inthe instance of the seat supporting standard-.-

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a device of the class described, a fixed standard section, a standard section telescopically fitting the first mentioned section, a wedge member coacting with the sections to lock the same at relative adjustment, a -member mounted for movement upon one of the standard sections and having perative connection with the said wedge member and movable to withdraw the wedge member from active position, and means for holding the second mentioned member in such position.

2. In a device of the class described, a fixed standard section, a standard section telescopically fitting the first mentioned section, a wedge member coacting with the sec tions to lock the same at relative adjustment, a spring connected to the wedge member, and an actuating member to which the spring is connected, the said actuating member being movable to position to tension the said spring whereby to withdraw and support the wedge member out of active 7 3. In a device of the class described, a

fixed standard section, a standard section telescopically fitting the first mentioned section, a wedge member coacting with the sections to lock the same at relative adjust- .ment, a spring connected to the wedge member, a retracting member to which the spring 18 also connected, the Sitld retracting member being movable to position to tension the said spring, whereby the initial relative movement of the second mentioned section in one direction with relation to the first mentioned section will permit the springtomove the wedge member out oi: active position, and means for holding the retracting member in the said position to tion to the first mentioned section in one Which it is moved. direction, a lever pivotally mounted upon 10 4c. In a device of the class described, a the first mentioned section, means for holdfixecl standard section, a standard section ing the lever in One of its positions of ad- 5 telescopically fitting the first mentioned secjustment, and a spring connected to the tion, a Wedge member arranged to coact lever and to the said Wedge member. With the sections to hold the second men- In testimony whereof I affix my signature. l5 tioned section against movement with rela- MARVIN L. GALL. [1,. s.]

0011mm of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

